The brink

What kills me the most is how close he came to the end. When Snickerdoodle’s sweet little face showed up in our rescue’s email inbox — one of many faces each day — he was already on the euthanasia list for that day. We can’t take them all, and the Dude’s saving grace was that he looks almost identical to one of the rescue’s all-time favorite spokesdogs. On an emotional impulse, we claimed him with just a couple of hours to spare on his precious, fragile life.

The Arlington, Texas shelter — where Snickerdoodle came from — is one of many shelters around the country whose volunteers and staff are doing what they can with what they have, but are confronted every day with the reality that it’s not enough. Our Doodlebug was on the lucky side of the brink.

In the grand scheme, he is quite lucky: even though he’s underweight, has heartworm, a few bad teeth, and some severe anxiety issues we wrote about yesterday, the world is growing bigger for Doodlebug every day. Two days ago he learned to ride in the car. Yesterday he got to meet and make friends with a four-month-old lab puppy. Today we’re starting work on impulse control.

And tomorrow? Maybe he’ll learn to bake a pizza. Or play the banjo. Or scuba dive. Once you’re pulled back from the brink, the world is full of possibilities.

I love the frog legs 😉 It is really scary to think how close to the brink so many dogs have to get before they are saved. With so many dogs, rescue groups are forced to make touch decisions at the very last minute 😦

That said, if Snickerdoodle learns how to do dishes, send him my way 🙂

So glad that Snickerdoodle was pulled from the brink – I don’t even want to think of what my life would be like without being able to check out his gorgeous mug every morning! 😉 Oh, and I think he should learn to ride a skateboard…..that seems like an important thing to learn to do once you come back from the brink!

Great post today! I miss you guys, and am glad I still have the blog to watch every day and stay in your lives. This post was great. I think redemption can be a heck of a kickstarter for moving on to bigger and better things….and I’m sure Snickerdude will show us all that!

Such a sweet looking guy, it’s staggeringly heart breaking to imagine all the other great animals who are not given the chance at a home and life. What you guys do is amazing and watching the progress of your pups is so inspiring!

So sweet! I wish there were more resources. It’s so sad to think about all of the dogs who don’t get pulled but each life saved is a step towards bringing awareness and mercy to the situation.
My bully mix rescue is about the smartest dog I’ve ever met. She was in the same situation and now the sky is the limit to what she can learn to do. I look forward to hearing how pizza baking goes 🙂

I absolutely love reading your posts. That little Snickerdoodle puts a smile on my face everytime I see his picture. If I had a house instead of a tiny apartment, it would inspire me to foster pups also. I would totally adopt him if I lived in TX!

The sky is the limit, sweet boy! Doodlebug has the best family to help learn what a well-loved doggies life is all about. I’m so happy he has this chance, and that he has it with you. My guess is that this dude makes Chick’s heart skip a beat.

I think all the time about how close to the brink Mayzie was when she was rescued. Starving, missing fur, living outside without shelter in a Colorado winter. How much longer could she have lasted? It takes my breath away to think that she came *this close* to the edge. But then miraculously an angel swooped in and saved her. I thank God every day for the angels like her and you and all those who pull so many animals back from the brink.

It’s a horrifying thought isn’t it? One Tail at a Time pulls many of their dogs from similar situations. My own Bilbo was on the “list” when they took him into their program, which just terrifies me. The only reason my last foster Flower made it to me is because one of the volunteers at the shelter took her home for a few nights to buy her some time. I guess we just have to keep doing what we can until there’s no longer a need for it. In the meantime, I’m loving getting to know Snickerdoodle, what gorgeous eyes!

I rarely comment, however i did a few searching and wound up here The brink | Love and
a Six-Foot Leash. And I do have 2 questions for you if you tend not
to mind. Could it be just me or does it give the impression
like some of these responses appear as if they are written by brain dead individuals?
😛 And, if you are writing on other sites,
I would like to keep up with anything fresh you have to post.
Could you make a list of every one of your community pages like your linkedin profile,
Facebook page or twitter feed?

With havin so much content do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or copyright violation?
My blog has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either created myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my agreement. Do you know any techniques to help stop content from being ripped off? I’d certainly appreciate it.